Yielding
by Hikari Shiroi Midori
Summary: Alisha starts to prepare dinner but Rose won t have it. RoseAlisha. Set after the DLC!


**A/N:** The second RoseAlisha fanfic I wrote for the RoseAlisha Week 2017 on tumblr (Day 7) as Capell0. The theme was „food", though it kinda... ended up a mix of a lot of themes xD Ah, anyways, I hope you enjoy this little story xD **Again, this story is set after the DLC!**

 **Yielding**

Some things in life were a test. At least, that´s how Alisha thought of it. For instance, being a knight consisted of various tasks, and amongst many, the ability to take care of oneself while on the road. And the knowledge on how to survive on one´s rations and how to cook could by that be considered a test of her worth as a knight.

Now, Alisha wasn´t a master chef but she was capable of preparing food for herself and she could say with confidence that the taste wasn´t half bad either. When on a mission with her platoon, they´d take turns to make everyone´s meals so she´d gotten a lot of practice over the years, too. And now, travelling with Rose and everyone else again, she was glad for it. Cooking dishes she thought tasted good was fine enough so long as she only cared for herself but cooking for others was definitelly something else. They all took turns, too, so everyone would be equally responsible but every now and then, Alisha volunteered for the task. She enjoyed it, having to use her knife for something other than self defense and she wanted to keep her skills as fresh as possible. But she had another reason for deciding to do so, too. That-

"...What are you doing?"

Alisha startled at the voice suddenly sounding from behind her. She looked up from the vegetable she´d just been about to cut up and turned around, looking at Rose who stood there with one hand on her hip. She had a quizzical look on her face. "Ah, Rose", Alisha said, putting down her knife. "I´m about to prepare dinner."

Rose´s frown deepened a bit. "I can see that", the other girl said, removing her hand from her hip to scratch the back of her head instead. "What I meant was that it´s not your turn today. It´s mine, actually."

"I know", Alisha said quickly, trying not to sound too stiff. She picked up the knife again and began to cut up some of the mushrooms they´d bought in a village a couple of days ago. "But I felt like it", she explained. "I find I kind of enjoy cooking formy friends."

"Aha", Rose nodded. After that, she was quiet. Putting the already cut up vegetable to the side, Alisha moved on to the next until she heard the soft rustling of grass next to her. Glancing to the side, she saw Rose plopp down on the ground, drawing one of her daggers.

Alisha blinked. "And what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I´m helping you!", she proclaimed, making a grab for a potatoe that lay close to her. "Can´t have you do all the cooking on your own again."

"You really don´t have to!", she protested. "I know you´re tired form walking all day and-"

"So did you, right?"

"Of course, but I said I´d volunteer so-"

"Like you volunteered the last three times it was my turn to cook?"

Alisha swallowed. "Well, maybe, but..."

"And if I help you cut and stuff you´ll be done faster so let me help you. Otherwise the others´ll think I´m _making_ you do it and I won´t stand for that! Or what, is this some kind of special training for you to become the perfect wife?", Rose suggested, flashing her a knowing smile.

Heat rose to Alisha´s cheeks. "That wasn´t my-"

"Alright, it´s decided then!", the red head announced smilingly. "Can´t have our head chef overwork herself", she added and readied her dagger, starting to peel the potatoe in her hand.

 _That´s not the problem_ , Alisha thought, unease growing within her. That wasn´t the problem at all. She tried to think of something to convince her to let Alisha do it on her own but feeling it would only end up in Rose arguing with her- again- until she´d persuaded her- again- she thought it was a more reasonable choice to simply accept her help. For now. Alisha was glad she wasn´t in charge of discussing trade contracts for Ladylake with her. Honestly, she could see how the other girl could be the leader of a merchant guild. She´d never let up on a contract if she thought it was unreasonably done. But, as a politician, Alisha would do her best and stand her ground if it came to that. _I have no intention of loosing to her, after all_ , Alisha thought with a small smile, her eyes sparkling with ambition.

Swiftly, she continued cutting the rest of the vegetable alongside the other girl. Albeit, her satisfaction about that was short lived, as they gathered their minced up ingredients and Rose swept the cutting board out of her hands a moment later. "Huh?!"

"Okay, time to get to the cooking part!", she said cheerily. "You go and rest up, princess."

 _Oh, no..._ Trying to keep a calm exteriour, Alisha waited a moment before responding. Had she gotten to it, that was.

"Don´t worry, I can handle it. It´s my turn anyways."

She gulped. "At least let me help you with the spices, then. I tried something the other day and-"

"Will you let me handle things already? I said it´s my turn so go get busy with doing your hair or polishing your armour or whatever it is you Knight Princesses like to do in your spare time!", Rose huffed at her angrily.

"What..." Alisha was taken aback to say the least. It was true that Rose was one to tease people quickly, especially Alisha it seemed, but she´d gotten used to it. She wasn´t a child anymore. This, however, wasn´t like the usual Rose. She´d taken jabs at Alisha´s status and made fun of her before but making her sound like some helpless damsel in distress after everything they´d been through together, after everything that happened between them- she hadn´t done that ever since. She wanted to demand an explanation, but before she could get to it, she was interrupted by a voice cutting in.

"How about you children hurry up with the food already, I´m getting impatient", Edna said in her usual dry tone, having just returned from her stroll through the forest. Lailah had insisted on taking her along, because she wanted to take a walk that didn´t end with them fighting hellions for a change. Mikleo hand´t minded the idea either, using the opportunity to gather some more fire wood, and Zaveid- well, he simply tagged along since he wasn´t exactly one to sit around and play idle, proclaiming he had to protect the ladies and make sure they returned unharmed. Alisha was pretty sure Rose hadn´t asked about why he thought it was better to leave them alone instead out of fear he´d start another one of his explanations on how a man had to be. Or worse, stay behind. Alisha would never utter anything like that, although she had to say that Zaveid was... a bit odd. But that wasn´t what she should be thinking about at this moment.

"Then help me convince Alisha here to give it a rest and let me get on with it", Rose said, dropping the vegetable into the kettle that hung prepared over the fire place.

"No way", Edna answered without hesitation. "You think I´d involve myself in your little lover´s quarrel? Fix that on your own."

"Edna...!", Mikleo chided her under his breath but it only fell on deaf ears. Though, as if they could sense the akward air between Alisha and Rose, everyone held their peace, saying they´d be busy with some things, giving the two of them their space to cook.

Again, she and Rose were alone.

Hesitantly, Alisha watched Rose who had started stirring the stew-to-be lazily with a wooden spoon. She looked a bit sulky. Alisha opened her mouth, wanting to ask why Rose had acted that way, however, as if reading her mind, Rose let the stew cook and began to explain on her own accord.

"You could let me do something nice for you once in a while, you know", she suddenly mumbled grumpily. Alisha looked up at her, surprised. "You´re always so diligent in everything you do, and I respect that, really. But, geez, you gotta learn how to relax and sometimes let others handle things, too!"

Alisha didn´t know what to say. So she laughed instead.

"Why-! Why are you laughing?!" Rose looked up from the kettle with an angry look on her face, gripping at the spoon.

Alisha couldn´t help it. She started laughing so hard, she had to hold her stomache, desperately trying to calm down. She whiped away a tear, finally regaining her composure after one last giggle. "I´m sorry", she said, smiling brightly at Rose. When there was no answer from her, Alisha walked over to the fuming girl staring her down. "I´m sorry", she apologized again. "I was merely thinking just how like you that was!"

Still angry, but a bit confused at that comment, Rose gave her e questioning look. "What was?"

Without a warning, Alisha reached out for Rose´s hand and slipped it into hers, watching the confusion on her face grow. As was the blush that came with it. "That", she began, "how every time you want to speak your mind, you do but whenever you want to do something nice, you just can´t be honest with your words. And yet, you are with your actions." She smiled at the other girl, barely containing all the affection she felt towards her. It might have been obscure, but in her own, weird way, Rose tried to be considerate of Alisha and wanted to take on some of what she thought was a burden on her. She had laughed because it was sweet and due to the fact that everything was one big missunderstanding. Rose thought she was trying to hogg all the cooking duties so she´d make it easier on her and the others and tried to help her in turn. It was true, in some way, but it was only one part of the reason.

The reson why Alisha had been so adament about cooking was that, as much as she loved her, she tried to prevent Rose from doing it. She hated to say it, but Alisha had tried to give her pointers, albeit suttle ones, as had Mikleo, but none of them had improved the girl´s cooking skills, if the number of times she´d let the food get burned, soups overcook or doused their meals in heaps of seasoning without even tasting them first was anything to go by. Even though she hated to keep it from her, she simply couldn´t bring herself to tell Rose why she didn´t want her to cook. And she felt horrible for it.

Especially now.

Her smile wavered a bit but when Rose squeezed her hand, she looked up into Rose´s bright and happy face. But maybe there was a way to make it up to her, after all.

A knight´s duties were many, and as she had learned over the years and been reminded today, yielding in some matters and leaving them to others wasn´t necessarily a bad thing.

Rose flashed her a grin before she leant in and gave Alisha a chaste kiss on the lips. Alisha blushed. "Well, as long as you get it, that´s fine with me", Rose said. "Now go and get some rest while I finish up here.

Letting go of Rose´s hand, Alisha retreated to where Lailah and the others seemed to be in a heated discussion.

Some things in life were tests. And sometimes, Alisha had to acknowledge, passing them didn´t automatically mean going without some kind of punishment. But if she could make Rose happy by yielding on the matter, she would gladly do it. If it meant making it up to her if only a little, she had no hesitation. She could take the punishment. Probably.


End file.
